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ATHENS — He’s not quite as tall and certainly not as wide as Jordan Davis. But he’s nearly so in both cases and seems every bit as confident and almost as gregarious.
Whether that means Zion Logue will play like Davis remains to be seen. But just the fact that Georgia trotted him out on media day ahead of spring football practice Tuesday is an indication the Bulldogs believe he is one of their answers on a defensive line looking for a lot of them this year.
The 6-foot-5, 295-pound Logue is one of three defensive linemen who played in all 15 games last season. Accordingly, he’s among the players Georgia expects to fill the considerable voids left by Davis, Devonte Wyatt and Travon Walker.
“Big shoes to fill this year,” said Logue, who was wearing a pretty large size himself. “We don’t want to put that much pressure on ourselves but, at times, we have to. We have to step in. We’ll have a lot of snaps. We need to be upfield, special teams, defense, offense. Guys have to step up in different places, in different areas.”
Georgia has only three starters returning from what some are calling a generational defense last season. Much of the Bulldogs’ good work on defense was attributed to the men in the trenches. In moving on to the NFL, Davis, Walker and Wyatt will carry 108 tackles, 20 tackles for loss, 10.5 sacks and 81 quarterback pressures with them.
Those remaining believe that production is theirs for the taking. In addition to Logue, junior Jalen Carter and senior Tramel Walthour played in all 15 games as backups. Carter is the only returning defensive linemen to get any starts, and he had two.
Juniors Warren Brinson (12 games), Tymon Mitchell (5), Bill Norton (6) and Nazir Stackhouse (10) all received playing time last year - and are excited about getting more this year.
“I think they’re right where they need to be,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said Tuesday. “They’re not way behind schedule, not way ahead of schedule. We have holes to fill just like we do every year. Probably just more this year than in years past based on guys leaving and the departure. … We’re certainly not deep enough at several positions, but I’m not here to cry about it. I’m here to solve it and figure it out.”
Logue is one of the answers. He and Carter will be expected to step into the interior roles handled by Davis and Wyatt last season.
Logue feels like he’s ready to take that on. Like Davis, he didn’t arrive with a cavalcade of accolades. He came to Georgia from Lebanon, Tenn., as a 3-star prospect, which almost is an anomaly for the Bulldogs these days.
While Carter has proved himself to be a star-in-waiting, Logue has been a study in slow and steady improvement. After a redshirt year in 2019, he played in five games of mainly mop-up duty in 2020.
Last year, Logue played more meaningful snaps. He finished with 11 total stops and three QB pressures and his first sack for a 9-yard loss against Auburn last season.
He feels like he’s ready for prime time now.
“When I got here, I was all over the place,” Logue said. “I had to really settle myself down and stick to who I was. I was trying to be somebody else, and I had to reel it back in a bit. I found myself, and things started changing for me.”
Logue said watching how those ahead of himself conducted themselves and performed has turned out to be a blessing.
“Just seeing my teammates prosper, I just wanted to do it for myself as well,” Logue said. “I have seen the changes they were making in their game, so I was taking bits and pieces and trying to put them into mine.”
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